Author: Gerald J. Leonard

Books

PofE 033: Book Review – The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth – John Maxwell

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The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth Premise: 

The premise of "The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth" by John Maxwell is that focusing on growth is more important than focusing on goals. Obtaining a goal will help you accomplish a task or dream but personal and professional growth will change who you are.

 

What I learned:

  • You need to be intentional about growth. You have to be focused on growth and you have to desire to want to grow and develop a plan for growth. You need to identify where you currently are and where you would like to be over a period of time and then establish a program that will take you there. Take the time and map out how you are going to accomplish your growth goals. What are you going to learn, read, and study to develop your skills and knowledge in your area of interest.
Theory of Constraints

PSGS 008: Variability Is A Fact Of Life

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Insurance_checklistHow do you manage life’s daily unpredictable events in your health, travel, home, life or car? Can you foretell when you will need your health insurance to cover an issue that you did not plan for and are not prepared to cover? What about an issue with your home or car? How much would it cost you to self insure and cover an incident on your home, car or your health? Would you consider it wise to use your emergency funds and retirement saving as your personal insurance policy? Yet many executive and senior managers ask their execution teams to protect the variability of every task and milestone and deliver each one on time so that the entire project will be delivered on time and on budget.

We all purchase insurance to protect against the variability that is a fact of life. When life happens – and it happens to everyone – aren’t you glad during those times that you were smart enough to listen to that inner voice and buy the insurance policy that you knew would protect you and your assets from the unknown? Think about it this way.

Books

Books I’ve Read and Recommend

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I love to read. I once read a quote that said “You only change because of two things, the books you read and the people you meet.” I figured, the best way to meet people from all walks of life is to read their books. I’ve learned that when you read a book, you’re not […]

Business Intelligence

PSGS 007: 4 Critical Steps to Creating Effective BI Teams

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 Business Intelligence

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." –Eleanor Roosevelt

Guest Post by Brittany Richards

Thanks to software vendors investing heavily in making their applications easier-to-use, accessible via the Web and more affordable, Business  Intelligence (BI) software is now a viable option for employees in sales,  marketing, operations, and other departments to utilize.

But with the proliferation of these tools, business leaders will have to rethink how they address business intelligence governance, or the roles, responsibilities and guidelines it provides its users to ensure BI tools are utilized correctly and appropriately. When it comes to setting up these new BI teams for success, leaders should consider these steps.

Continuous Improvement

PofE 032: You Don’t Have To Be Anthony Robbins To Live A Life Of Continuous Improvement

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  Continuous-Improvement

"Every great improvement has come after repeated failure. Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are the posts on the road to achievement." –Charles Franklin Kettering

Anthony Robbins has become one of the top inspirational speakers in the world. He has been considered an authority on the psychology of leadership, organizational turnaround and even peak performance. He’s a humanitarian and has been able to transform the lives of many individuals to include a higher quality of living.

Change Management

PofE 031: Little Known Ways To Communicate To Manage Change

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  Penguin-change-management

“Effective leaders help others to understand the necessity of change and to accept a common vision of the desired outcome.” –John Kotter

Brian Tracy has been a business consultant for many years. Prior to becoming the CEO and chairman of Brian Tracy International, Brian was the CEO of a company managing business development processes for clients, and before that, he had a booming career in sales and marketing, management and strategic planning. As a result, he has been able to develop a wealth of information about training and developing world class organizations.

Team Building

PofE 030: How To Choose Your Team Like James Cameron

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  TeamSelection

"Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."

–Vince Lombardi

 James Cameron is one of the most world-renowned producers in the film industry. With dozens of Academy Award nominations for his films, he has become very successful. He wasn’t always the successful filmmaker you see before you, however. In fact, when he wrote Terminator, he was living out of his car.

Results

PofE 029: The Secret Of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Success – Perseverance

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   Perseverance

 "Genius is perseverance in disguise." -Mike Newlin

"You must read, you must persevere, you must sit up nights, you must inquire, and exert the utmost power of your mind. If one way does not lead to the desired meaning, take another; if obstacles arise, then still another; until, if your strength holds out, you will find that clear which at first looked dark." -Giovanni Boccaccio

 The accomplishments of Arnold Schwarzenegger are no secret. No one would have expected the Austrian born bodybuilding world champion to go on and be anything but that – a world champion of bodybuilding.

Problem Solving

PofE 028: Got Problems! What we can learn from Al Gore?

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  Problem Solving - man with puzzle

"Life is a continuous exercise in creative problem solving."

–Michael J. Gelb

He was born on March 31st, 1948, in the District of Columbia. His early education began in Washington, D.C. and after high school he went on to attend Harvard. He was a member of the student body during some of the most serious anti-war sentiment that was sweeping through college campuses around the nation.

Stakeholder Management

PofE 027: How To Improve Your Stakeholder Management Skills

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  Stakeholder-Management-Social-Networking

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." –Colin Powell

His Life

  • Born on October 8, 1941 to a sixteen-year-old high school student and her 33-year-old married neighbor.
  • As a young boy, he was often made fun of for being an out-of-wedlock kid, but the persecution increased his drive for success.
  • He attended Sterling High School and was elected class president, was tenth in his class, and received letters in baseball, football, and basketball. Sterling High was a racially segregated high school.